Last.



J. E. TlLT.

LAST.

APFLICATION FILED FEB- 20,1915.

L145,@%w Paftent July 13, 1915.

nrrn STATE g ENT oFFtoE.

I JOSEPH TILT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Specification'of LettersPatent. Iatented July 13, 1915.

Application filed February 20,1915. Serial No. 9,518.

To all whom it may concern:

lie it known that I, Josnrit E. TILT, a

citizen of the lfnited States. residing at (hicage, in the county of (ook and State of Illinois. have invented a new and useful improvementin Lasts, of which the following is a specification.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a construction of last which shall greatly reduce the expense for lasts in shoe making. this beingone of the largest items of expense in the manufacture of shoes, particularly those of the Goodyear welt variety.since the entire operation is carried on with the last in the shoe. \Vith the more ordinary last. made entirely of wood, the great pressure required in attaching the heel on the shoe tends to crush the wooden last-heel and soon destroy it, thereby rendering the entire last unfit for further use.

My improvement involves forming the heel-portion of the last of metal. preferably solid and of a relatively light variety. such as aluminum, and the forward portion wholly of wood, and so joining the metal and wooden members that the shall be rigidly united for their conjoint use. but readily separable to enable the wooden member to be taken off and discarded when-worn out and a new member of the same or of differ-- ent shape as readily substituted on the same metal hecl-i'ncmber. in this way a supply in the factory of metal last-heels is practically everlasting, and only new supplies of the wooden members require to be provided, from time to time, thereby reducing the expense for lasts by about, one-half. or even more, because the aluminum heel-pieces are worth, as scrap-metal, about one'half their original cost.

Tn the accompanying drawing. Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a last of my improved construction; Fig. 2 is a. longitudinal central vertical section of the same; Fig. 3 is a view in rear-end elevation of the forward or woodenmember; li g. l is a view in front-end elevation of the metal heelmember, and Fig. 5 is a broken plan view of the bottom of the last.

'lhe heel 6 shown is a solid aluminum casting containing a. socket 7 in its top 'to [it on a. standard. as usual, and having a wooden peg R confined centrally in its bottom and a similar peg 9 in its back for driving into them the usual tacks in making a shoe on the last. A recess 10 .is formed in the front face of'the metal heel-member G and through the latter extends. from nearly the lower end of its back to about the center of its recessed face, a hole for a bolt 11 having its head countersunk into the back. A reinforcing plate 1) of relatively hard metal, as steel, is securely fastened, as by serewslS, to the bottom of the. metal heel, to. cover the same, and projects at its forward edge, as a lip, slightliv beyond the front face of the heelmember. The wooden member 11, formed with the usual separable instep-section 14 held in place near its forward end by a wooden pin 15 and at its rear end by the head of a screw 16,.or other suitable means, contains a bolt-hole as a continuation of the inclined hole in thc'metal heel for the bolt 11, which latter, when. the two members a re brought together to form the last, is passed through the wooden member to project into a. recess 17'in the latter admitting the nut for tightening the bolt in place. \Vhen the two parts are being thus united, or taken apart. the instep-section is removed. and it contains a. recess 17 in its under side to register with the/recess 1.7 and house the nut carrying endof the bolt. The rear face ot the wooden member is formed witha shoulder 18 conforming to and snugly lifting the, recess 10, which it enters, in bringing the two members together for uniting them. to prevent the wooden member from being strained out of its true position under the heavy pressure which is applied on the sole of the shoe in the process of leveling. The forward lip on the plate 12 fits into an olfset in the, rear lower edge of the member 11, as shown, and bridges the joint at the bottom of the two menlbens.

' As will readily be seen, the manner of fastening the two members of the. last togetber facilitates the fastening as well as the separating operation, since all that isrequired for either purpose, after removing the instep-block, is to nntnipulate a single bolt rigidly and securely holding the members in their cooperative relation when supplemented by the shoulder 18 in the recess lO.

\Vhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters latent is:-

1. A last comprising a. forward wooden member provided with a separable instepsection and containing e. recess beneath said section, a metal heel-member, a bolt extending from the heel-member through the;

wooden memlmnintq ga i d r cces s, and g} nug (11113118 bolt m szud recess.

'2. A last COJIIPIISIDQ'YH; forward wooden member pl ovidedwv i t ll n separable instep-- section andcontaining a necessheneathsaid sectionnnd an obliqug: bolt-hole lading t0 said recess, a. mat ukhe ekmembev containing an oblique bolb-hohyto -egistlwith snid JOSEPH EVTILT.

F. M. RONDEAU. 

